Method for processing silicon solar cells
AssigneeMidwest Research Institute
InventorsY. Simon Tsuo, Marc D. Landry, John R. Pitts
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The instant invention teaches a novel method for fabricating silicon solar cells utilizing concentrated solar radiation. The solar radiation is concentrated by use of a solar furnace which is used to form a front surface junction and back-surface field in one processing step. The present invention also provides a method of making multicrystallline silicon from amorphous silicon. The invention also teaches a method of texturing the surface of a wafer by forming a porous silicon layer on the surface of a silicon substrate and a method of gettering impurities. Also contemplated by the invention are methods of surface passivation, forming novel solar cell structures, and hydrogen passivation.
Claims19
A method of forming a front-surface junction and back-surface field, comprising:
- providing a semiconductor substrate containing a dopant and having a front surface and a back surface;
- depositing a dopant source layer on said front surface of the substrate, said dopant source layer being of opposite doping type than the dopant of the substrate;
- depositing a second dopant source layer on said back surface of the substrate, said second dopant source layer being of the same doping type as the dopant of the substrate;
- exposing the substrate to concentrated solar radiation.
A method of making a silicon solar cell, comprising:
- providing a silicon substrate containing a dopant and having a front surface and a back surface;
- depositing a dopant source layer on said front surface of the substrate, said dopant being of opposite doping type than the dopant of the substrate;
- depositing a second dopant source layer on said back surface of the substrate, said second dopant source layer being of the same doping type as the dopant of the substrate;
- exposing the substrate to concentrated solar radiation;
- and
- forming a transparent or translucent electrical conducting layer on said front surface of the substrate.
A method of making multicrystalline silicon thin films from amorphous silicon, comprising the steps of:
- providing a substrate;
- forming a layer of amorphous silicon on the substrate;
- and
- exposing the substrate to concentrated solar radiation.
A method of removing impurities from a silicon wafer, comprising the following steps carried out in the order given;
- forming a layer of porous silicon on said silicon wafer;
- exposing the wafer to concentrated solar radiation;
- and
- removing said layer of porous silicon.
A method of forming a textured layer on the surface of a semiconductor substrate, comprising:
- exposing the substrate to concentrated solar radiation in the presence of a reactive gas.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.